Just this past week, a wave of “Made-in-China luxury” has been blowing up on TikTok. People are talking about Birkin bags, Nikes, luxury makeup and even high-end furniture all selling at unbelievably low prices. Because they’re sourced straight from Chinese factories.
The platform behind it? DHgate — a B2B China sourcing app that suddenly shot to No.2 on the App Store overnight.
Now, some people might question whether those TikTok sellers are telling the truth, maybe they’re just trying to sell more bags. But as someone who’s worked with Chinese factories at least 10 years, we can tell you: most luxury products really are made in China. We’ve helped clients source suppliers for luxury leather goods, cosmetics, and furniture. And we’ve been inspecting factories in China for years. From a zipper to an electric car, you can find a supplier in China for everything. Whether it’s affordable everyday products on Shein or Temu, or complex, high-tech goods like drones.
So it’s not surprising that some people get their DHgate package and feel totally scammed. The quality of the replica bags just isn’t what they expected. But let’s be real, you get what you pay for.
Bulk Production of Luxury Collars
We once helped a French client source high-end pet collars for her own brand. She also tried suppliers in Portugal and Italy, getting samples made from all three. Turns out, the version from the Chinese factory we sourced held up just as well and was better for high-quality batch production at a good cost.
She was aiming for a flawless, luxury-level product. So during QC, we were extra strict, even the tiniest crooked line meant it didn’t make the cut. Only the perfect ones made it into the final batch.
You might think this would drive up bulk production costs dramatically. After factoring in the rejection rate, the overall sourcing cost ended up doubling. Even then, the client was happy with the final price and how consistent the quality turned out.
Why Are $80 Luxury Brushes Made Here?
Many luxury cosmetics brands work with OEM manufacturing partners. Whether it’s for packaging, accessories, or the molds used to make them. Take makeup brushes, for example. Most of them come from a Chinese city you’ve probably never heard of — Cangzhou. But it’s where $80-a-piece luxury brushes are made.
Cangzhou originally specialized in animal hair processing. With strong resources and skills, it caught the attention of well-known beauty brands from Korea and Japan, and gradually shifted into full-scale makeup brush manufacturing.
Luxury Scent, China-Made, 30x Price Gap
The markup on luxury candles is wild. We saw it firsthand while helping a client source from a scent candle factory in China. Inside the showroom, we spotted candles they’d made for big names like KFC, Nike, Hoegaarden, and even Vacheron Constantin.
Some of these retail for $100 each, but the actual production cost is around $3. So what really costs money for production? The factory owner told us: most candles use the same base wax. The real difference is fragrance oil. For some formulas, a tiny bottle of oil can cost $10.
And then there’s the packaging. A well-designed clamshell rigid box alone can cost around $3.
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